Wednesday, January 15, 2025

David Alfred Bywaters’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Career False Starts”—Jim’s review

Theme answers are familiar phrases that have an F prepended, thus describing wacky job descriptions.

Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Career False Starts” · David Alfred Bywaters · Wed., 1.15.25

• 17a. [Origami artist?] FOLDER WOMAN.
• 23a. [Fitness coach?] FLAB ASSISTANT.
• 38a. [Plumber’s apprentice?] FLOW BOY.
• 51a. [Independent hot dog purveyor?] FRANK OUTSIDER.
• 61a. [Pessimistic philosopher?] FUTILITY MAN.

Maybe it’s because I’m under the weather, but oof. I did not enjoy this. The theme is very basic, the puns tortured and unfunny, and two of the base phrases were new to me: “low boy” (I thought it was a drinking glass, no, it’s a kind of low trailer), and “rank outsider”. Why not go with “rank amateur”; it’s much more common?

At least the entries consistently describe careers, but that’s about the only thing I enjoyed here.

IGNORAMUS and FELL FOR IT make for good corresponding anchors in the corners. Also good: CROESUS and “I GET YOU.” Never heard of THE GODS as a term for seating in a theater.

Three stars.

Parker Higgins’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 1/15/25 – no. 0115

The theme answers are clued with idiomatic phrases, but one of the clue words needs to be interpreted as a different form of speech.

• 17A, [Look for trouble], STINK EYE. Look as a noun rather than a verb.
• 21A. [Good for nothing], FREEBIE. A good, noun, not the adjective.
• 38A. [With 40-Across, open for business], DEAR SIR / OR MADAM. Instead of the adjective “open,” we get the noun … “opening”? Using “open” as a noun in the clue phrase feels clunkier than in the other themers.
• 56A. [Fit for a king], REGALIA. I like this one best because it leans on contemporary slang, where “fit” is shorthand for an “outfit.” I’ll bet it alienates many other solvers, though.
• 63A. [Run for the hills], SKI SLOPE. Run as a noun, not verb.

A bit unexpected to have four Across 7s in the theme, but also four nonthematic Across 7s, 8s, and 10s down.

Fave fill: MINI WHEATS, REN FAIR, SCAVENGERS, SAMOSAS. Meh: ARCO, APSE.

• Three things:
• 5a WHO crossing WHERE AM I with “who” in the clue feels inelegant.
• 8A. [What to do “if you’ve heard this before”], “STOP ME.” Technically this is a 6-letter partial, but I kinda like it anyway.
• 6D. [Does some baling], HAYS. Did … did we know that this was a verb, to hay meaning to cut and bale hay, that sort of thing? Surprised to see it. The old Hollywood Hays Code and actor Robert Hays don’t pass muster?

3.5 stars from me.

Paul Coulter’s Universal crossword, “You Couldn’t Be More Wrong” — pannonica’s write-up

Universal • 1/15/25 • Wed • “You Couldn’t Be More Wrong” • Coulter • solution • 20250115

• 38a^R [Completely different, or what each starred clue is to its answer?] JUST THE OPPOSITE. Each is clue is a familiar two-word phrase or compound word; if each element is replaced with a word meaning the opposite, that answer too is a familiar compound word or phrase. The full phrases themselves are not opposites of each other.
• 17a. [*Sit on?] STANDOFF.
• 29a. [*Hotheads?] COLD FEET. Almost opposites, but not quite.
• 44a. [*Go under?] STOPOVER.
• 59a. [*Come in?] LEAVE OUT.

Nicely turned.

• 7d [Ill-suited] UNFIT. Wow I can think of a lot of things and people that are UNFIT, and far more seriously than ill-suited.
• 25d [Enlarge, as a house] ADD ON TO. As ADD ONTO, it would look like one of the theme clues or answers.
• 31d [Two-wheeler with a motor] E-BIKE. I’d prefer the clue to have a qualifier such as ‘sometimes’ or ‘increasingly’.
• 33d [Head lock?] TRESS. This clue also looks like it could be a themer.
• 48d [The Colosseum, for one] ARENA. 50d [“Gladiator II” setting] ROME.
• 54d [Ivory source] TUSK. Grim, because it’s a reminder of how prevalent illegal wildlife poaching and trade is, when we’re already encroaching on and destroying ecosystems, and worse. So what I’m saying is, why not clue it via the color, or explicitly couch it as something historical?
• 57d [Victorian or Elizabethan] ERA. Would’ve preferred a comma and a ‘say’ in the clue.
• 37a [Kind of chart or code] BAR. I knew PIE was wrong but couldn’t think of anything else that fit, so needed crossings here.

Caitlin Reid’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up

The New Yorker solution grid – Caitlin Reid – Wednesday 01/15/25

I really enjoyed Caitlin Reid’s puzzle today! It really hit the sweet spot for an easy themeless: lots of lively fill, super-smooth but not so smooth as to be filled in by rote, and a little bit of bite in the clues too. Case in point:

• Nice top-left corner with SLOW BURN, “NO WORRIES” and OPENING ACT. It took me a little time to figure these out because of some ambiguity (not unwelcome!) in the Downs, where I had LOPE for TROT and FRESH for BRISK for a bit. Other fill I liked: WAFFLE CONE, GUITAR SOLO, EVERGLADES, BALLET CLASS, KILIMANJARO. None of these feel overused in themeless grids.
• [Dirty film?] for SCUM and [Stone cast in many films?] for EMMA are a good pair of punny clues.
• I also initially guessed wrong on both three-letter Downs in the lower-right stack: I had EPA for FAA (thinking the clue reference to “air safety” meant pollution, not air traffic) and LLC for LTD. Again, not complaining.

Thanks Caitlin!

Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Let’s Rock and Roll!”–Amy’s recap

AV Club Classic crossword solution, 1/15/25

Didn’t have the Crossword Nexus timer on, but it felt easy for the most part.

The theme revealer: 66a. [Relentlessly seeks answers … or what this puzzle does throughout the grid], LEAVES NO STONE UNTURNED. The theme answers are L-shaped words in circled/shaded shaded squares, all rocks that get turned 90 degrees: GRANITE, ONYX, MARBLE, SLATE, BASALT.

Two things:

• 18d. [Definitive refusal], BIG NO, and 29d. [Try to kill a bill], VOTE NO. Are these really idiomatic phrases? I’m not sold.
• 63a. [Toy company that merged with Namco in 2005], BANDAI. I needed all the crossings here. Bandai Namco is an anime-related toy company with Tamagotchi.

Fave fill: TEA CEREMONY, NIKOLA TESLA (I wanted this entry to end with AGA for AGATE rather than SLATE; have been watching some Agate Dad videos on YouTube), ASTRAL PLANES, LUCHADOR, Himalayan PINK SALT.

Four stars from me.

Mark McClain’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s theme summary

I guess Mark McClain is what Billy Joel calls a “BACKSTREET” guy… In what feels like a typical LA Times Wednesday concept, there are four other long across answers preceding that, each of which has central letters that spell out a word, in this case, if read right to left: PATH, WAY, LANE and ROAD:

• [Sticky Stuff in a dispenser], SCOTCHTAPE
• [Out of this world], TOTALLYAWESOME
• [Cause of some springtime discomfort], POLLENALLERGIES
  
• [Fruit from the Sunshine State], FLORIDAORANGES

Answer you don’t see much any more: CAEN. As the memory of the nitty-gritty of WWII becomes less common-knowledge… Answer you may see more ONS Jabeur, if she can win a slam or get to more slam finals…

Gareth

Amie Walker & Amanda Rafkin’s USA Today Crossword, “She Is My Scar (Freestyle)” — Emily’s write-up

A playful puzzle perfect for midweek.

USA Today, January 15, 2025, “She Is My Scar (Freestyle)” by Amie Walker & Amanda Rafkin

Favorite fill: THATSAWRAP, DOMEASOLID, ICALLEDIT, and NOODLEBARS

Stumpers: AGATHARIO (new to me), ATL (new to me), and NERDALERT (needed a few crossings)

Loved the grid and all of the fresh fill with fun cluing! Not surprisingly based on my first stumper, the title reference (spoilers) of this puzzle also went over my head, as I’m not steeped in the MCU, but perhaps that needs to be remedied.

4.0 stars

~Emily